Nightmare
by YourBlackButterfly
Summary: Nick got into a bar fight and it brings back more memories than he'd like. Can Jess find out what's bothering Nick and help him?
1. Chapter 1

Hey there.

This is my very first New Girl fanfiction, so I have no idea how this is turning out. I had this idea and just needed to write it down. I hope you guys will enjoy this story, so please tell me in a short review what you think about it. Tell me what I can do better.

And I'm so sorry for any mistakes I made. I'm German and my English isn't perfect, but I'm trying. (And I watched xfactor while writing it.)Be gentle.

I don't own New Girl.

Now read and enjoy :) and please leave a short review at the end. Thank you.

Love, Jess

* * *

It was almost five am when Jess heard the front door open. She stood in the kitchen making herself a cup of tea because she couldn't sleep.

"Morning Nick, you're late." She called happily, knowing it was Nick who was coming home from a late shift at the bar.

"Why are you up already?" Nick asked, walking to the fridge and getting himself a beer.

"I had a nightmare and couldn't sleep anymore. I was a little freaked out. So I got up and made myself a cup of tea." Jess explained without taking her eyes off of her cup. Suddenly a hand was on her shoulder.

"You alright?" Nick asked her when he felt his roommate flinch under his hand. "Sorry." He slowly drew his hand back, before Jess' smaller hand stopped him.

"You scared me. That's all. I wasn't expecting you to comfort me like this, but it's nice." Jess finally turned around and looked Nick in the eyes before taking a shocked breath in. "Oh my – Nick what happened to your face?" Jess carefully extended her hand to touch the bruise around Nicks left eye. Dried blood was smeared under his nose and his lip was split. "Did you get in a boxing match?"

"Nah, no boxing match, but I think you could call it a bar fight."

"Nick, you're the bartender. You shouldn't get into bar fights. Only the drunken idiots do this. And then you're supposed to break them apart."

"I know. But sometimes I can't help it. I get really mad and then I go and punch people."

Jess knew Nick wasn't telling the truth and there was more to the story than Nick let on. "Fine! Then don't tell me!" Jess didn't know why she suddenly was so angry, so she stormed into her room.

"Jess-" Nick called after her, but the door closed with a loud thud. Nick just shook his head, went to the fridge and got himself a new beer and some frozen vegetables to press against his aching ribs before sitting down on the couch carefully. After only a minute, Nick heard Jess' door open again before she appeared in his field of view.

"I forgot my tea." She said in a small voice and went to pick up her cup.

"Jess." Nick started again. "I'm-"

"It's fine Nick. You don't need to tell me what happened, just don't lie to me." She slowly went over to him and sat down beside Nick. They sat in silence for a while and just when Jess thought she could fall asleep again, feeling save with Nick around, he started talking in a low voice his anger shining through.

"There was this guy. He was trying to force himself on this girl. She didn't appear to be older than seventeen."

* * *

_Nick was wiping down a table when he saw a guy getting closer to a woman. She politely told him to go away, but the guy didn't listen to her. He got closer to her and put his hand on her leg. _

"_Get away from me." The woman said and tried to back off a little._

"_C'mon sweetheart, you know you want this." The man slurred, obviously drunk. The man grabbed her face and forced a kiss on the young woman. _

_Something inside Nick snapped. _

"_Hey! Didn't you hear her? She told you to back off!" Nick growled and dragged the man away from the girl by his collar. _

"_Buddy, she wants this. Let go off me!"_

"_First of all, I'm not your buddy, secondly I think it's time for you to go home." Nick said, dragging the guy out by his arm._

* * *

"I tried to get this guy away from her and told him to back off. I dragged him out of the bar and then he started to get violent." Nick continued to explain to Jess.

* * *

"_Get your hands off of me, you loser!" The guy yelled and shook Nick's hand off, before pushing him away. _

_Barely containing his rage Nick turned around to get back into the bar. Suddenly he felt strong hands pushing him sideways against a wall._

"_Don't you dare just to walk away from me!" He screamed and threw himself at Nick, throwing punch after punch at Nick._

* * *

"He hit me a few times before I was able strike back. When the guy realized he couldn't win in his drunken state he backed off."

"That was very sweet of you." Jess said when Nick finished.

"What? Punching this drunken guy?"

"No, you idiot. Helping this girl. How is she, by the way?"

"I don't know. She was gone when I came back."

"Oh, so you don't even know the name of the girl you saved?" Nick just shook his head. "But I don't see why you didn't want to tell me."

"I didn't want to tell you because it would make me some guy in shining armor in your eyes." Nick told Jess, clutching his beer tightly in his hands.

"That makes no sense! I know that you are a good guy. You pretend not to care, but you do. You are somebody's hero now. You can't deny it. Hero, you're a hero, a hero." Jess started singing.

"I'm not a hero Jess. Stop saying that. Heroes help people… I couldn't help her." Nick whispered.

"What are you talking about, Nick? You saved that girl. Think about what this guy would have done to her if you didn't come to her rescue. That guy would have raped her. No, wait, don't think about it. It's horrible to think about something like this. Anyway, you saved her Nick. Nothing happened to her, because of you."

Nick was clutching the beer bottle so tight Jess thought it would break any second now. "Hey, Nick, are you alright? You look a little pale. Maybe you should go see a doctor?"

"I'm fine, Jess. I just need to get some rest. I'll go to bed now… But maybe you could call your doctor friend and ask her if she could get me some of those pills again?"

"Yeah, I'll call Sadie... Oh come on Nick, I can see something's bothering you. Talk to me."

"Please, I just want to get some sleep now." He put his empty beer bottle down and slowly stood up, walking towards his room.

"Good night, Nick." Jess called after him.

"Night Jess."


	2. Chapter 2

Hey there everyone.

First of all, Imm sorry for taking so long to update this story, I had this chapter almost finished but I didn't like the outcome so I reworte everything. Bear with me.

I don't own anything, but I don't think you'd assume I do ;)

And now read and enjoy. (And don't forget to leave a review please)

* * *

"Did anyone see my blue tie?" Schmidt asked, coming out of his room.

"Which one?" asked Winston, who was sitting on the couch.

"The azure blue one with…" Schmidt trailed off when he realized Winston wasn't listening to him. "Jess?" He called through the apartment. "Have you-"

"No, I haven't seen your tie!" Jess called back.

Moments later Nick's door opened and Nick appeared, looking annoyed.

"How difficult can be not to wake up the entire house?" Nick growled, glaring at Schmidt.

"Nick!" Jess yelled, running from the kitchen towards him. "How do you feel? I am so sorry we woke you. Maybe you should go back to bed and get some more rest, you look horrible."

"Geez thank you Jess, just what I need to hear. But I don't think I will be able to go back to sleep, now that I am awake." Nick said, interrupting Jess' stream of words.

"Yeah, maybe you are right. But let me cook you some breakfast." Jess exclaimed. Taking Nicks hand, she dragged him into to kitchen and forced him to sit down.

Schmidt, who had been watching the exchange between Nick and Jess from the couch, used the opportunity of relative quietness to ask Nick about his missing tie.

"You haven't seen my tie, have you? You know the – geez, what happened to your face Nick?" Schmidt questioned instead when he got a closer look at Nick's bruised face.

"It's nothing, just a black eye." Nick said, not looking up from the magazine he suddenly was looking through intently.

Jess, standing with her back to her roommates, turned and explained. "He saved a girl a girl from being raped by a drunken idiot last night."

"Oh." Was all Schmidt said, but he laid a comforting hand on his friends shoulder.

Jess, a little confused by Schmidt's quietness, turned back towards Nick's half cooked eggs and the bacon she was roasting.

"I… I'm going back to bed, I think." Nick suddenly exclaimed. The scraping of a chair was heard, followed by Nick's steps as he made his way back into his room. They heard the door close behind him.

"What was that about?" wondered Jess and turned towards her roommates who were looking somberly towards Nick room.

"You should ask him about it. It isn't our place to talk about it." Winston sighed and turned his attention back towards the TV.

Jess finished Nick's breakfast and decided to bring it to him and use the opportunity to interrogate her personal hero a little.

* * *

Nick could hear Jess' soft footsteps coming closer before they suddenly stopped in front of his door. After a few seconds soft knocking could be heard, before an uncertain voice called through the door.

"Nick?"

Before he was able to say anything his door opened and Jess entered, carrying a trail loaded with food.

"Are you alright?" Jess asked. Nick knew the question was coming before Jess had had a chance to ask. It was obvious to him that his sudden change of mood would cause such a question.

"I'm perfectly fine." He answered with a sweet smile covering his face. He knew his attempt to convince Jess he was alright would fail, but he still had to try.

"No, you're not." Jess replied and sat the tray down on a stool standing nearby, before she sat down beside Nick. Slowly she took Nicks hand in her own and continued softly, looking into his eyes. "I can see you're not well at all."

"Then why do you even ask?!" Nick suddenly burst out. Springing up from his position on his bed, Nick began to pace in his room.

Shocked from Nick's sudden outburst Jess needed a few seconds to sort out her thoughts before she took Nicks hand and pulled him down into a sitting position beside her again.

"Please, Nick, tell me, what's going on?" Jess pleaded. Locking eyes with him, she could see several emotions running through his brown eyes but he looked away before she could place any of them.

"Please?" She asked again.

"I… I don't know…" He whispered.

"Please, Nick, tell me what's troubling you." She pleaded.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to resist her pleading blue eyes any longer Nick sighed and thought how to start best.

"I… Some years back… My sister-"

"You have a sister?" Jess interrupted Nick. "Why did you never tell me about her? What's her name?"

"Do you want me to tell you what's going on or do you want me to explain my family tree?" Nick asked slightly annoyed.

"I'm sorry I interrupted you." Jess said, placing her other hand over their interwoven fingers. Nick looked at their hands for a moment, before raising his eyes to lock with Jess'.

"I am going to tell you what happened, but you need to promise me that you won't interrupt me again. Alright Jess?"Nick said.

"Of course." Jess promised.

"Well… my sweet little sister Nora… She's 20… Some years ago… She just turned sixteen… She was raped. They still don't know who did it… Since that day she isn't who she used to be. Nora only saw the good in people, she was always happy, I remember she used to sing quite much… you two are actually quite similar, but since that day all was gone. She isn't who she used to be… It... it's horrible." Nicks voice grew quieter until it was barely a whisper, before he stopped.

"That's… I am sorry. I have no idea what it must be like to go through something like this. I am so sorry." Jess said sadly, tears in her eyes.

Looking at Nick, Jess realized there was more to the story than Nick let on. There was something in his eyes, besides the sadness about what happened to his sister. It took her a moment to place the feeling she was seeing. But then realization hit her. It was guilt. Nick felt guilty.

"I can see there is something you're not telling me." Jess stated quietly but firmly.

Nick looked up shocked. He wasn't aware that Jess could read him so easily. He thought Jess would let it go now that he told her what happened. He had been wrong.

"It was my fault Nora was raped that night." Nick confessed.


End file.
